Revolvable-ball-point pen



Nov. 8, 1949 B. KLEIN'SMITH 87, 0

REVOLVABLE-BALL-POINT PEN Filed NOV. 23, 1946 BEN KLEHNSMITH INVENTOR.

ATTO RN E Y5 Patented Nov. 8, 1949 REVOLVABLE-BALL-POINT PEN BenKleinsmith, Seattle, Wash.

Application November 23, 1946, Serial No. 712,025

3 Claims.

My present invention relates to the general art of writing pens and,more particularly, to a pen point which, because of its construction,may probably best be termed a revolvable-ball-point pen. A large numberof pens have been put on the market during the past fifty years, inwhich the actual writing point is a ball of small size, normally in theneighborhood of th of aninch in diameter and which is backed up by aconical shaped reservoir of ink, usually an absorbent pad of some order,or it may be the thicker ink Where no pad is required, but in eachinstance the upper surface of the ball picks up a quantity of ink andthen, as it rolls on the paper in Writing, deposits the ink on the paperso that a legible ink line results. Under most conditions, such pens arequite satisfactory, but are expensive in construction and usually thesacrifice made for the long non-filling period is counterbalanced byother characteristics which make such constructions of questionableworth.

In my present pen, I propose to use a pen point of the same generalstyle and size as pen points that have been commonly used since theintroduction of the steel pen point. My modification lies in the factthat I provide, at the extreme tip of the pen point, a ball as a bearingsurface and my construction-follows somewhat the fountain pen type inthat it may be employed as a replacement unit for the fountain pen nibor point. This change can be made with slight inconvenience to'the userand is balanced by the fact that such a pen point can be produced veryeconomically and the same can be used with pen holders of the type'mostdesired by the user.

The principal object of my present invention, therefore, is to provide apen point of conventional style and type which can be used in aconventional fountain pen holder and still will give the user the easeof writing which characterizes the revolving ball type of pen point.

A further object of my present invention is to provide a pen pointhaving a revolvable ball as the writing tip, which is of such astructure that it may be substituted in a fountain pen of conventionalstyle and can thus feed from the ordinary fountain pen reservoir or itmay be employed Further objects, advantages and capabilities will beapparent from the description and disclosure in the drawings, or may becomprehended as inherent in the device.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing my improved type of ball tip penpoint;

in a common pen holder of the type employed for ordinary pens.

A further object of my present invention is to provide a pen pointemploying a ball writing tip, in which special means are provided toinsure this smooth flowing of ink down to the writing ball.

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view through the pen of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a cross sectional view, on an enlarged scale, showing themanner in which the ball engages the writing surface and showing theangle of the pen as being that conforming to the usual practice;

Figs. 4 and 5 are cross sectional views along similarly numbered linesof Fig. 2; and

Fig. 6 is an alternate form of construction of my ball tip writing pen.

Referring more particularly to the disclosure in the drawings,throughout which like reference characters indicate like parts, thenumeral 8 designates my pen point generally. This may be made of anyform ofmaterial now found suitable for forming a pen point; preferably,it should be of non-corrosive material, of which type many metal alloysare in quite common use. It can of course be made, in the leastexpensive style, out of steel. The general shape and cut of the penpoint follows the form which through years of trial have been found tobe generally the most satisfactory, and is substantially as shown inFig. 1, in which the body portion is reduced to an arcuate form at I0 sothat it will fit into the usual pen receiving recess in pen holders. Thebody is then swelled out to its extreme breadth at l2 where cuts aremade so as to provide the point section I4. An ink flow cut orpassageway I5 is provided Which,-in my present structure, is not toassist in the structure of the point but solely for its primary purposeof providing an ink flow channel, and a secondary purpose which will besubsequently explained. This cut extends down to the ball but not to theextreme end of the nib except in the modified form.

At its extreme outer end the tip portion of the pen is formed asillustrated in Fig. 3, so as to provide a spherical seat for ball l9 andshould extend downwardly slightly below the center of the ball and becrimped or swedged to always grip or retain the ball in position andthus prevent it being dislodgedand lost.

The under surface, as 20, of the ball receiving cup which will besubstantially a circle, should be dressed oif at such an angle that itwill be at all points equidistant from the writing surface 3 when thepen is held at the normal writing angle. This is illustrated in Fig. 3.

Most of the writing ink as employed at this time has a slight tendencyto build up foreign materials from the ink itself, or because of thedampness of the passageway to pick up dust and other foreign particlesand in this way any narrow or confined passageway tends to becomeclogged after a reasonable period of use. To overcome this deficiencywhich is present in so many of our accepted styles of pens, I provide amovable feeding unit 22. This is constructed by providing a bladeportion at 23 which is loosely mounted within the ink feed slot I5. Ifurther provide a guiding and stop member 24 which is rod-like in itsstructure and has at its upper end a down turned portion 26. This downturned portion co-acts with a slot 28 cut in the material forming thesupport member underneath the pen as 29 so that, as the pen is raisedwith the tip uppermost, the entire member 22 will slide down until thebent portion 26 will come to rest on the left hand end of the slot 28after the showing of Fig. 2. Then as the pen is turned down to the usualwriting position blade 23 will move to its extreme down position whereit just fails to touch ball [9. The rod member 24 has relativelyconsidera able mass and it and blade 23 as they are loosely mountedwithin slot 28 and slot l5, respectively, provide sufiicient energy, ateach reversal of the pen, to keep the ink supply channel open. Rod 24is, larger in diameter than the width of slot i5 consequently the entirecleaner 22 is held in its guide-way by pen 8 overlapping the ink slot 28and the guideway which extends from slot 28 to ball 19.

It has been found that there is a wide variety of ink normally availableand the design of the structural parts of my pen will best achieve theirpurpose and give long lasting satisfaction if they are designed with thetype of ink to be used with the same in mind. An ideal ink is one of theslight acid reaction and which is as free as possible from colloidalparticles in suspension. Having determined the type of ink that willgenerally be used in the pen, then the element 24, which is in effect aweight and to which is added the blade portion 23, acts as a weight andwill work best in inks that tend to have some lubricating properties. Inany event, however, a wide range of ink types can be employed ifsufficient mass is given to the combined elements 24 and 23, Theconstruction of the slot and feeding member is probabjy best shown inFigure 5, in which it will be noted that the faces of parallel walls ofslot l5 provide a slot which is considerably less in width than thediameter of member 24. This arrangement provides a definite guide withample clearance for the cleaner blade 23 and at the same time, insuresthat member 24 will be held loosely in position by the lower corner ofthe walls forming slot [5.

In Fig. 6 I have shown an alternate form of construction which followsrather closely the form shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3, excepting that outor ink passageway l5 has been modified in the constructions shown at 30and no longer goes up to the feeder opening 3|, but does extend clear tothe end of the nib 32. Where the pen body is thus bifurcated by cut 39,I find it desirable to employ a compression band 34 which partiallyencircles the nib near its point and prevents any spreading of the twoseparate point portions 35 and 36. This is a precaution necessary inorder that ball l4 will not drop out of the nib when pressure is appliedto it as in writing.

As in my former construction it is desirable to employ a movable feedingunit, consisting of the blade like portion 23 and the connecting guidingand stop member '24, which are similarly disposed as in the preferredarrangement and function in the same manner.

It is believed that it will be clearly apparent from the abovedescription and disclosure in the drawings that the inventioncomprehends a novel construction of a revolvable-ball-point pen.

Having thus described my invention I claim:

1. A writing pen point, consisting of: a pen securing portion having anarcuate form, a body portion tapering outwardly from the securingportion and provided with oppositely disposed arcuate cuts which providea blunt end, a semispherical ball-seat formed in said blunt end, a ballrevolvably seated in said spherical recess, a rim formed as acontinuation of said spherical seat adapted to extend below the centerline of said ball and to be crimped or swaged at the outer margin so asto provide a retaining means for said ball, a feeder opening centrallypositioned in the body of said pen, a support member for said pen,disposed beneath said pen; a stop slot on the upper surface of saidsupport member, adapted to act as an ink reservoir, an ink passagewayhaving spaced side walls disposed co-axially with said pen body andextending from said stop slot to the writing end of said pen, a movableinkfeeding unit disposed below said passageway and a rod-like body ofgreater diameter than the width of the ink passageway and having a bladeportion extending upwardly into said passageway, a guiding and stopportion for said feeding unit adapted to engage the ends of said stopslot and limit its travel at both extremities of its movement.

2. A writing pen point, consisting of: a pen securing portion having anarcuate form, a body portion tapering outwardly from the securingportion and provided with oppositely directed arcuate cuts which providea blunt end, a semispherical ball-seat formed in said blunt end, a ballrevolvably seated in said spherical recess, a rim formed as acontinuation of said spherical seat adapted to extend below the centerline of said ball and to be crimped or swaged at the outer margin so asto provide a retaining means for said ball, a support member for saidpen, disposed below said pen, a stop slot on the upper surface of saidsupport member adapted to act as an ink reservoir, an ink passagewayhaving spaced side walls disposed co-axially with said pen body andextending from said stop slot to the writing end of said pen, alongitudinally movable ink-feeding unit disposed below said passagewayand having a blade portion extending upwardly into said passageway andsaid ink feeding unit having a rod-like weight of greater diameter thanthe breadth of said ink passageway and adapted to be held in place bythe overlapping margins of said slot.

3. A Writing pen point, consisting of a pen securing portion having anarcuate form, a body portion tapering outwardly from the securingportion and provided with oppositely disposed arcuate cuts which providea blunt end, a ball-seat former in said blunt end, a ball revolvablyseated in said ball-seat, a retaining means for said ball, a pensupporting member disposed below said pen, an ink reservoir formed onthe upper surface of said supporting member, an ink passageway havingspaced side walls disposed co-axially with REFERENCES CITED said penbody and extending from said ink reservoir to the writing end of saidpen, and means i i fiig g igg are of record in the adapted to preventthe spreading of said side p walls, a movable ink feeding unit disposedbelow UNITED STATES PATENTS said passageway and having a blade portionextending upwardly into said passageway, a guid- 3 2: g f g ing and stopportion for said feeding unit adapted 2 154181 Pfafistilh 1 1939 tolimit its travel at both extremities of its movea ment and said inkfeeding unit having a rod-like 10 O GN PATENTS weight of greaterdiameter than the breadth of said ink passageway and adapted to be heldin ig sg gfig place by the overlapping margins of said slot. 490:423France 1919 BEN KLEINSMITH.

